Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Gulf of Mexico Resilient but Scarred; Sea Turtle Population at Decade Low

In the wake of the BP oil spill, the Associated Press
reports the Gulf of Mexico is resilient, yet scarred.

After BP issued a 40-page report in March pronouncing the
Gulf mostly recovered (and noting that less than 2 percent of the water and
seafloor sediment samples exceeded federal toxicity levels), AP surveyed 26
marine scientists about two dozen aspects of the fragile ecosystem to see how
the waterway has changed before the 2010 spill.

Among other species that have been in decline, the AP
reports the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle’s population has declined to a
decade low.

After the spill, Oregon State University professor Selina
Saville Heppell said, the number of nests dropped 40 percent in one year in
2010.

“We had never seen a drop that dramatic in one year before,”
she told AP. The population climbed in 2011 and 2012 but then fell again in
2013 and 2014.

Heppell said while there is not enough data or research to
blame the spill, changing nesting trends could be due to many factors,
including natural variability and record cold temperatures.

Check out the Texas A&M University Press Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota
series, which includes an economic snapshot of the Gulf of Mexico prior to the
spill and looks at other facets of the Gulf: biodiversity, geology, and
ecosystem-based management. The volumes are part of the Harte Research
Institute’s landmark scientific series on the Gulf of Mexico.